Demons Within
by Changeling In Disguise
Summary: "We all have demons we cannot control, but it takes courage to use them."
1. Chapter 1

We are all taught that when an enemy is truly defeated, their threat ceases to exist without a second thought.

But that's not the case.

Somehow, in some way, pieces what's left of their essence escape their fate and inflict their influence in small ways. Nopony is aware of their existence but they will come to realize what happens when their influence become one...

* * *

Deep within an unnamed forest near Canterlot, a familiar horn laid in a patch of grass with dark crystals sprouting out of the ground. Every so often, the horn sparks black lightning, in which didn't affect the forest or its inhabitants in any way.

Elsewhere in the forest, a purple serpent like mist glided silently through the forest, making whatever sunlight that shined through the thick leaves retreat. And somewhere else in the forest, a cotton candy cloud floated aimlessly around, spilling chocolate rain and sparking out lightning made out of licorice.

Whatever seemed to come in contact with the licorice lightning change as grass became lively green tentacles, branches having a mind of their own, and small pieces of bark oozing out gravy. But what they all did, didn't do anything more than a couple of misdemeanors.

But everything was about to change within a matter of seconds as the cloud and mist pasted over the horn simultaneously right before the horn produced another lightning, this time much bigger than usual. The lightning struck the cloud and mist as they started to uncontrollably lash out at each other before froze up in place.

A mass started to develop within the middle of the chaos before it grew bigger with each passing second, starting to take on a form of a human boy, no older than thirteen-years-old.

This human was wearing a plain black pull-over hoodie, navy blue jeans, a necklace with an amulet written in ancient Equestrian, black and white shoes with red shoelaces. His brownish hair was shaggy and always covered his eyes.

The horn began to dematerialize into black smoke before entering the human body through the mouth and nose followed by the purple mist and lastly the cloud, like something was pulling them into the body.

As soon as the last of the essence entered the human's body, the body started descending down towards the charred ground. When the body touched the ground, no vital movements came from the body as it laid perfectly still like it was in a deep slumber.

* * *

Hours has passed since whatever chaotic event took place and the human boy still seemed to not move a muscle, not even the movements of breathing. Nothing has seemed to disturb the human from its deep slumber as the creatures of the forest have kept their distance away from him, not daring to get any closer to the human in fear they'll catch some sort of disease from it.

Another hour goes by before a pack of Timberwolves settle down near the human as one of the Timberwolf ventures outward. As the Timberwolf scavenged for what little food it could find, it suddenly caught sight of the human body. The Timberwolf tread closer to the strange creature before it sniffed the shoe, not sure if it was prey or alley.

Suddenly, the human let out a small groan, his first sign that he's alive since his forming. But making the Timberwolf jump back in surprise before it gained its composure back and let out a deep growl. More groans escaped from the human's lips as he slightly moved his head side to side, like he was having a bad dream or something. The Timberwolf let out more growls before moving up to the human's head, coming face-to-face with its prey.

The Timberwolf continued to growl before the human snapped opened his sea-green eyes. As soon as the Timberwolf looked into the human's eyes, the Timberwolf whimpered. Before the human could react to what he was seeing, the Timberwolf took off away from the human with its wooden tail between its legs.

The Timberwolf let out a howl, alerting the others as they started to sense something as well before they took off too as well. Even though Timberwolves are known for being fearsome creatures, they sensed something dark and unsettling about that human boy that made them cower in fear.

The human was pretty stunned at what he just saw there. _Whoa, what were those things?_ he asked himself, _they looked... awfully familiar_. The human boy tried to rack through his brain to see if he would remember ever seeing the Timberwolves, but nothing came to him before a more important question came to him. _Where am I?_

He looked around his surroundings to see nothing he recognized as many questions began to swirl through his brain. _What is this place? How did I get here? Why did those things look familiar to me? Who am I?_ That last question seemed to spike the human's interest more than the other questions as he began to think of who he was. But just like last time, nothing came to him.

_Maybe if I walk around and get my bearings down, maybe it'll jog my memory or I might run into somebody that knows me_, the human suggested to himself before he started rising to his feet, but he fell back down on his face. After a while of trying and failing, the human finally manages to get to his feet, despite all the shakiness but a new problem came to him; walking.

The boy took one step forward before collapsing back to the ground. It took him several more tries before his legs eventually were strong enough to barely walk. He stumbled around the forest as he looked around in hopes of remembering something, but still nothing came to him.

_Where could I be?_ the human questioned as he looked around one more time before he slumped to the ground, his throat as dry as sandpaper like he hasn't drunken anything in days.

_So...Thirsty..._ the human thought to himself before he looked around for any water source around him, but sadly there were none. Before the human could worry about finding a water source, he started to hear something like rushing water. Without a second thought, he rose back to his feet and stumbled towards the sound of rushing water.

As soon as the human made it to the source of the sound, he found a crystal clear river right in front of him and beyond that, a flat plain.

"Ugh, water." the human rasped out before falling to his knees and dunking his whole head into the icy cold river, but he didn't seem to care. Taking large quantities of water, the human kept his head underwater until his thirst was quenched before bringing his head back up for a satisfied sigh.

"Much better." the human said before looking up at the nearby mountains to find a surprising sight. On the side of one of the mountains was a castle. But the longer the human stared at it, the more familiar the castle looked to him.

_Weird, that castle looks familiar. Maybe, just maybe, that castle holds the answers to my questions_, the human thought before he slowly rose to his feet and started making his way to the castle.

* * *

Once at the base of the mountain, the human looked around for any other alternative way to the castle but found that climbing was the only way up. Letting out a heavy sigh, he grabbed onto a ledge for his hands and feet before repeating the process, slowly making his way up the mountain.

Halfway up the mountain, the human's muscles began to scream in agony and excessive amount of sweat poured down his face as he tried to work past it before suddenly losing a grip on one of the ledges. He began to slide down the face of the cliff before grabbing a ledge as his body jolted from the sudden stop, almost feeling like he dislocating his arm.

The human muffles his cry from the excruciating pain by digging his face into his arm as tears silently flowed from his eyes. Once some of the pain has subsided, he checked his injured hand to find a deep gash with blood seeping down the arm that ran from the base of his pinkie finger to the base of his thumb.

Maneuvering carefully, the boy rips off a piece of his sweater's sleeve before slowly wrapping the injured hand. Even though it stung and throbbed heavily, it seemed to stay on and prevent more blood from flowing out. As soon as the human was ready, he began climbing once again.

The sun was just above the horizon by the time the human boy made it to the last ledge before pulling himself up, collapsing on safe ground and feeling quite tired from his long journey. But he knew he had more to go before reaching the castle.

Standing between him and the castle was a twenty foot wall and a town. The human looked up at the main entrance to catch a glimpse of huge lettering above the door to the city.

"Canterlot?" the human read as he continued to study the wording before being interrupted by a loud whistling noise.

The boy whips around to the noise to find a steam-powered train with different colored roofed carts zoom past before entering a tunnel near the entrance.

The human looked up at the castle that is beyond the city before he let out a sigh and silently entered into the tunnel. He didn't understand why he had to hide himself, but it just felt the right thing to do.

He hid behind a wall for safe measures before peeping over. Instead of seeing beings just like him, he saw unicorns, Pegasi, and earth ponies rushing in and out of the train, dressed in different attire or nothing at all. There were also six or seven other ponies dressed in golden armor patrolling the train station.

"What are these things?" the human whispered to himself in confusion before deciding to get a better look.

Using the shadows as cover, he crouched walk over to the platform just as the train's whistle blew before slowly taking off back out the tunnel, leaving little for the human to his himself. Only left with one situation, he presses his body against the platform edge and prayed nopony would see him.

_I gotta get outta here... he _thought desperately. Once the station was clear of ponies, two guards closest to the human paused the edge of the platform, peering beyond the edge, quickened the boy's heart rate in fear of being caught before he threw up his hood.

The human inches his way to the side before he rounded the corner and kept to the shadows just as the two guards turned around and began walking back.

Quickly taking this opportunity, he got up onto the platform before silently sneaking past the other guards with not much as a noise before luckily making his way up to a deserted street. Without sparing any more time, the human shot straight into the alley and kept close to the shadows.

It didn't take long for the human to make it to the castle gates, but upon approaching the castle, a wave a nausea washed over him. A pounding sensation raised within the human's head as he began to stumble towards the castle gates, not caring if he gets caught anymore.

A group of seven guards were chattering happily amongst each other before they caught sight of the human and got their spears ready.

The group of guards cautiously advance toward the human boy who dropped to his knees in agonizing pain, wandering what kind of creature the human was.

"Please, help me..." the human weakly pleaded out, making the guards jump back mostly because of not just that this creature spoke, but that it pleaded for their help.

"What is that thing?" one of the guards asked confusedly.

"Is it a Changeling in disguise?" another guard guessed.

"Is it a creature from the old legends or stories?"

"Could this be another test brought down by one of the princesses?"

The more the guards wandered, the less they knew what kind of situation they were under before the human spoke up again.

"Please, I'm begging you, help me." the human pleaded before the guards pointed their spears towards the human again.

"Shut up whatever you are, not another word until we figure out what's happening." one of the guards orders before the human began to shake violently.

"PLEASE! Help me! Why aren't any of you helping?" the human said a little angrily as an immense anger urge washed over him. The guards approached the human a little closer as they kept their weapons trained on him.

"For the last time, shut up!" the guard in front of the human ordered right before the human stopped shaking and stayed perfectly still.

Curiosity rose amongst the group of guards of what happened to the boy but before any of the guards could move a muscle, the human lashed out and grabbed the guard's spear that was in front of him.

"You insignificant fools!" the human growled out as his voice sound a bit different now.

The human rose his head up to reveal that his eyes were no longer sea-green, but they were scarlet irises with purple mist emanating from them. The guard shook in fear from the sight before darkness began to spread across the spear as three guards rush to the first guard's aid.

But no matter how hard they pulled, they couldn't yank the spear from the human's grasp. The darkness slowly started to infect the guard as well as the other three near him before they were completely overtaken by the darkness and they fell unconscious.

The remaining guards watched in shock as the unconscious guards collapsed to the ground before they turned their attention back to the human.

"Take him out!" one of the guard shouted out before they all charged at one toward the human, but the human simply vanished in thin air before reappearing behind them all.

The human's palm began to glow with Sombra's magical aura before he sent a ball of dark magic toward one of the guards, knocking that pony unconscious.

The remaining two guards whipped around to face the human again as they got their spears ready and charged. But before their spears could impale him, the human grabbed the spears with his bare hands and miraculously started lifting the guards into the air before he threw them over his head as they both slammed into the ground, knocking both of them unconscious.

The human stood still for a few more seconds before walking up to the unconscious guards and gently grazed his hand against their armor, making darkness appear and infect the guard. As soon as he was done, he stood in middle of the unconscious guards.

"Rise up you dim-wits!" the human sneered out as the guards' eyes snapped open as the whites in their eyes are green and looked like they had no life in them, indicating that they are now under the human's control.

"Now you pathetic excuses for Royal Guards, escort me to the throne room. I think the princesses should know of my return." the human said with a sinister smile on his face as the hypnotized guards silently nodded and did as they were told by escorting the human into the castle and towards the throne room.

The inner guards were quick to realize a pack of hypnotized guards escorting a human through the halls but before they could spring into action, they were quickly put to sleep through Sombra's magic.

As soon as the guards posted outside the throne room were taken care of, the guards pushed open the door and piled in as the human lastly entered the room.

Celestia and Luna looked up from what they were doing as their eyes widen at the scene in front of them. It wasn't so much as the controlled guards or that a human was standing on the other side of the room from them, it was what they sensed coming from the human.

"Sombra?" Luna blurted out as the human devilishly smiled back at Luna. "But how?"

The human continued to smile towards the princesses before he moved a little closer to them. "Is that all you can say to me for all the years I've been gone. Your next question should be what's going to happen next?" the human asked delightfully as Celestia and Luna rose to their hooves and their horns glowed in their aura.

But before the human can spring into action against the princesses, blood began to drip out of his nose. Sombra's eyes faded in and out of control before they diminished and reset back to their sea-green color before he collapsed, unconscious.

In result, the hypnotized guards also collapsed to the ground unconscious as Sombra's magic was released from their bodies.

Celestia and Luna slowly approached the human boy with caution, not sure what to make of what just happened.

"Sister, could that have really been Sombra?" Luna asked as Celestia turned to look at her younger sister.

"It could be a possibility that Sombra's Dark Magic could have survived the Crystal Heart and traveled to the human world and infect a human and bring him back here, but..." Celestia said before moving her horn over the human's chest. "...I'm detecting two other energy forces. One of them is Discord's and the other one is... Nightmare Moon's."

Luna shivered.

Ever since she was redeemed back to her former self, she never thought she had to ever hear that name or deal with her darker self ever again. But is seemed that there is no escaping her evil half that easily.

Celestia looked down at the human again to finally see a necklace around his neck before she used her magic to remove the necklace from the boy.

Celestia studied the necklace as it gave off a sense of familiarity, but she could tell why. Celestia then looked at the amulet as she looked at the ancient writing written all around it. She hasn't seen this kind of writing in centuries but if her memory serves her correctly, she knew what is said.

"Three souls, one body." Celestia read out confusedly before turning to her sister who looked as confused as she was.

"What could that mean?" Luna asked as Celestia examined the necklace again to see if there was anything else, but that was it.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I know somepony who might." Celestia said before she closed her eyes and concentrated her magic on summoning the pony who could help them out.

Within a flash of a light, a certain Draconequus appeared above the princesses, sitting in a chair with a stack of chips floating beside him and a deck of cards in his claw/paw.

"For the last time Cherry Swirl, if your fed up with losing, why don't you just stop playing and stop wasting your time losing to me." the Draconequus said before he noticed he wasn't where he was suppose to be before he looked down at the princesses.

"Honestly Celestia, how am I suppose to enjoy my vacation if I'm just going to be summoned every five minutes and unexpectedly?" he said before snapping his claw and the chair, stack of chips disappeared from sight, but he kept the deck of cards.

"Do you know anything about this Discord?" Celestia asked as she pointed a hoof at the unconscious human boy in front of her.

Discord took one look at the human boy before shaking his head. "I don't know nothing about this at all. Now, how about picking a card, any card." Discord said before flashing the cards in the princesses' face before Luna smacked the cards away from her, making the cards fly out of Discord's grasp and fly everywhere.

"This is serious Discord! Celestia has detected your energy force from this human. So you better not be lying to us about not knowing." Luna growled out as her horn glowed fiercely.

With the snap of his fingers, the cards reappeared back in his paw as he began shuffling the cards around. "I would take credit for this if it was my idea, but sadly I didn't do it. So don't get all up in my case for something I didn't do. And besides, I'm reformed, remember?" Discord said with a sly smile.

_Not that reformed_, Luna angrily thought to herself before containing her anger.

"Discord!" Celestia interrupted before letting out a sigh. "Please, we need your help. Your the only Draconequus I know who can Identify how ponies were able to obtain these kind of powers." Celestia pleaded as Discord crossed his arms and grumbled and mumbled to himself before he gave in.

"Alright, I'll help you. But I'll help if and only if somepony apologizes for wrongfully accusing me of all of this." Discord said as he batted his eyes toward Luna who widen her eyes in shock.

"What? No! I'll do no such thing." Luna protested as Celestia gave her sister a pleading look.

"Sister, please." Celestia pleaded as Luna looked back at her before she let out a sigh of defeat.

"Fine..." Luna growled out before turning to Discord and mumbling out, "I'm sorry."

Discord frowned at the way Luna presented her apology to him. "Oh come on Luna, I know you can do way better than that. Now take it to the top. AND ACTION!" Discord yelled through a megaphone as he was suddenly wearing a plain shirt and plaid pants with a black hat that said 'Director' on it. Discord sat on a floating director's chair and a camera trained right on Luna.

Luna's body began to shake with anger as her horn glowed brightly. "I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" Luna yelled out before firing her magic at the camera, making it disintegrate.

"Oh, poo." Discord said disappointingly as Luna got ready to fire another magic blast towards Discord but before she could, Celestia intervened.

"Luna!" Celestia cried out, making Luna turn to her sister and her anger subsisted, bowing her head in shame.

"Well, that was something. OK, I guess I'll take what I got and help you." Discord said before floating down to the human boy. He planted his claw onto the human's forehead and concentrated.

Suddenly, a tremendous shiver ran through Discord as he quickly pulled his claw away from the human.

"Did you seeing anything?" Celestia asked, confused of why Discord withdrew his claw back from the human.

"That was strange..." Discord mumbled to himself before he turned to Celestia and Luna. "There seems to be immense negative energy inside this boy, its preventing me from seeing anything. I have never felt something like this at all."

Celestia and Luna looked worriedly at each other, if this human can prevent Discord from getting in his head while unconscious, then what is he capable of when he's awake?

"Okay Discord, thank you very much. You are excused." Celestia said as Discord smiled delightfully before nodding to Celestia. But before Discord left, he took one more look at the human. Discord felt something from the boy, something... familiar, he couldn't quite put his paw on it.

_This could be quite entertaining..._ Discord happily thought to himself.

With the snap of his fingers, Discord disappeared within a flash of light. Celestia and Luna looked down towards the human boy with confusion and fear.

"What is he? Besides him being a human and all." Luna asked as Celestia shook her head.

"No, he's not human at all." Celestia said, looking down at the human with an unreadable expression. "We might not know what he is but when he awakes up, he'll give us the answers we need."

* * *

The human's eyes flutter open to see a white ceiling. Only turning his head, the human looked to his side to see that he was laying in a bed inside a strange bedroom.

_H-How'd I get here? _the human asked as a unbearable and satisfying smell invaded his nose as drool began to flood within his mouth.

The human looked around to pinpoint where the delicious smell was coming from before his eyes set on a plate of steaming food on a nearby table. The human watched the steam roll off the food for a little bit before he couldn't stand it much longer and sat up and swiped the plate of food off the table and started stuffing his face, even though it tasted a little weird to him.

By the time the human got three-forth of the way done with the plate of food, there was a sudden voice from behind him.

"Well, look who's finally up." The human turned whipped around to see Celestia and Luna standing near his bedside. The human continued to look at Celestia and Luna before he brought up enough courage to say something.

"W-who are you?" he asked as Celestia gave him a pleasant smile and spoke up.

"My name is Celestia, the co-ruler of Equestria. And this here is my younger sister Luna. And who might you be?" Celestia then asked as the human looked down in disappointment.

"I-I don't know who I am..." the human said sadly, looking away from the princesses.

Celestia let out a sigh and walked a bit closer to the bed. "So if you don't know your name, then what would you like us to call you?" Celestia asked in a soft tone and the human looked at her in confusion before he began thinking of a name for himself.

"Riley." the human suddenly blurted out, not sure where the name came from. "I would like to be called Riley."

Celestia politely smiled towards Riley as he tried to smile back, but just couldn't. "Riley, do you know what this thing is?" Celestia asked as she used her magic to levitate the necklace they found on him towards him. Riley looked down at where the necklace was suppose to be before grabbing it from Celestia's magical grip and examined it.

"I'm sorry Celestia, but I don't know anything about this. All I know is that I woke up with." Riley said before putting on the necklace.

"Do you have any idea how you got here?" Celestia asked as Riley thought back of how he got here, but much of what he remembered now felt like a distant memory. "All I can recall was climbing the mountainside, sneaking through the town to get here before I fell ill in front of the castle. I don't remember what happened after that." Riley said before turning to look at the princesses.

"Wait, you don't remember getting po-" Luna began to say before Celestia intervened.

"After you passed out, my guards dragged you to me and I ordered them to take you here. You've been out for a while." Celestia said as Luna looked at her sister in confusion of why she wouldn't tell the truth, but before she could ask, Celestia continued. "Thank you for your cooperation, we'll talk more in the morning. In the meantime, you finish your meal and I prepared a bath for you, my guards will show you the way when your ready." Celestia said before guiding Luna out of the room before she could speak.

Once outside, Luna whipped around to face her sister in anger. "Why didn't you tell the human the truth?!" Luna hissed out as Celestia looked at her with pleading eyes.

"Luna, please listen. If Riley would figure out what he could do, there is no telling what will become of him. It's best that doesn't find out until he has better control over what he possesses. Come Luna, we've got some research to do. Maybe Starswirl the Bearded has something on this kind of situation." Celestia said as she and Luna walked down the hall just as Riley was done with his plate of food.

Once Riley was ready, the guards escorted him to the Bath House. As soon as the doors were closed behind him, he undressed himself and slowly lowered himself into the hot water before he let out a relaxed sigh.

Riley watched the steam dance around the room before looked down at the water disappointingly. Even though the castle felt familiar and he thought his questions would be answered, but it seemed that all it has done was bring more questions than answers.

Riley let out a depressed sigh before bring his hand in front of him and started clutching and unclutching his fist. _If I'm not like any of these beings, then what exactly am I?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter one has been slightly modified.**

* * *

Morning came rather fast for Riley as he awoke from a lack of sleep to find a plate of steaming hot food hay pancakes, poached eggs, milk, and a letter next to the plate. Riley instantly dug right into the food even though it was piping hot but he was still hungry from last night.

During eating, Riley checked his injured hand to see how the cut was doing only to find that there was none anymore. _How'd... How'd this happen?_ he asked himself, knowing that healing this fast wasn't natural.

All of the food tasted really good but Riley felt like eating something hard and crunchy before he caught sight of a crystal like vase that made his mouth water. blBut he quickly shook that desire out of him before he could get up and take a bite outta the vase.

As soon as he was done, the human grabbed the letter and opened it up as it was from Princess Celestia stating that she'd like to meet him in the library after he was done eating.

But before Riley could ask himself where the library was located, several guards bursted into the room, weapons ready and ordered Riley to follow them.

Riley obeyed and slowly followed the group of Royal Guards as they escorted him to the library. Riley looked all around, taking it all in as he noticed a few paintings depicted on the windows. The human suddenly stopped at one of the paintings on the window showing six individual ponies; two earth ponies, two Pegasi, and two unicorns, with beaming lights coming from their heads towards a dark alicorn.

The next window painting is of a strange creature smiling evilly as a bar with strings kept three ponies up in a bubble above a fire. Right next to that one was the same creature from before except this time he was all whited-out as two alicorns swirled around him.

The other painting was the same creature but the six ponies from the first one surrounded him and with the same beaming lights coming from their heads.

Anger began to arise in Riley's chest for some reason as he continued to stare at the four window painting in front of him.

"Hey!" a sudden voice rang out to him as he mentally shook himself from his thoughts before he turned around and stared at the group of Royal Guards who had their spears ready. Riley looked down at himself to notice that his whole body was shaking.

Riley closed his eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly to calm himself from the unnecessary anger building up in his chest before he resumed their escort towards the library.

As they continued on their way, Riley began to feel more like a prisoner rather than a honored guest within the castle before they finally reached a pair of double doors.

The leader of the escort, the human presumed, knocked lightly on the double doors before entering by himself. A few seconds has passed before the escort leader reemerged and motioned everypony to follow into the library. Riley shielded his eye for a moment when entering because of how bright it was before he unshielded his eyes and looked around in amazement.

The library was at least had three stories with bookshelves as along its circular walls, a gigantic window overlooking most of the castle below, stairs leading up and down to probably to more of the royal library as there was a huge hourglass right in the middle of the whole area. Celestia was right next to the hourglass as there was a small table with several books stacked upon it.

Celestia looked up and smiled at Riley as he gave a confused look at her in return before she cleared her throat.

"Alright, would you all please leave me with Riley." Celestia said as the Royal Guards bowed and left except for the captain who looked at her in confusion and worry.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." she assured the captain who continued to give her an unsure look before obeying and bowed before leaving Riley with the princess.

"Well, good morning to you, Riley. Did you get any sleep?" the princess asked, noticing the bags underneath his eyes as Riley shook his head in response. Celestia chuckled a bit before she motioned the human to come closer to her.

Celestia began by telling a brief history of how Equestria was brought to be. The sun princess avoided telling about anything that resembled close to King Sombra, Nightmare moon, or Discord in fear that the information about them will surface themselves through the boy and Celestia couldn't risk that kind of thing.

Instead, Celestia told about how life was back then, the challenges that came to when her and her sister came to power, the changes that took place over the course of the years, and a lot of other stuff. Riley listened carefully to all of what Celestia was saying, absorbing all of the information she was giving him as he thought long and hard about it all.

"Okay, I get it all but there's something I don't get though." Riley said before he turned his attention to the princess who kept her same calm expression. "There's Unicorns, Pegasi, Earth Ponies, Alicorns, Gryphons and whatnot, but what species am I? Where do I fit into this?" Riley asked as he stared at Celestia with a bit of sadness within his eyes.

Celestia let out a sigh and put a hoof on his shoulder before she looked at him right in the eyes. "That's an easy one, you're a Human."

"A...Human?" asked Riley as he let the word roll around inside his head for a bit.

Celestia nodded as Riley was a little happier to finally know at least something about himself but there were so many questions still swimming within his mind.

"Well, its good to finally know what I am, but the more important question is who am I? Where'd I come from? Is there anybody looking for me right now?"

Celestia's smile faded into a frown as she looked at Riley with a sympathetic look. She wanted to tell him how he really showed up to her and her sister, what he actually possesses and anything else she knows about him but she was too scared of what consequences will follow if doing so.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not even sure about that one." Celestia admitted as Riley batted an eye to her before letting out a heavy sigh.

It's... It's quite alright. I should have known you didn't have the answers either..." Riley said before putting his head down on the table.

Celestia felt bad not telling him what she knew but if it was the only way to ensure the safety of all of Equestria and even himself, it had to be done for all of their sake.

"I have some things to attend to, will you be okay by yourself?" Celestia asked as Riley just nodded.

The princess exited the library, leaving Riley alone. After a few minutes has passed, Riley lift his head up and took another look around the library. There had to be thousands upon thousands of books crammed onto shelves but he guessed none of them held any answered questions he had.

Riley looked down at the book Celestia left out and decided to look through it. After flipping through a few pages of the book, he stopped at one that quickly caught his attention.

"The fall of Discord." Riley read, not remembering Celestia talking about this part in her history lesson.

Riley glided his fingers over the printed word of Discord like he felt a little connection before taking a look which was the same as the one on the window. Suddenly, a millions of images began flooding the human's head before his vision went to black.

* * *

The sun princess casually walked through the halls back to the library with a squadron of guards behind her. As soon as they reached their destination, Celestia slowly entered only to find the library empty and Riley nowhere to be found.

"He's gone! Keep on your guard everypony, we don't know what he's capable of." one of the guards commanded out as they readied their spears while Celestia stayed quiet and surveyed the scene.

A laugh suddenly echoed around the room, making almost everyone jump in surprise.

"Oh what fun it is to see you all so tense!" an upbeat voice chuckled out as all of them looked up to see Riley sitting crisscross on the ceiling.

The guards pointed their spears at Riley as he only smiled widely before he began floating down from the ceiling upside down.

"Oh you guys, sometimes you can be quite bothersome." Possessed Riley said before snapping his fingers, making the guards' spears instantly turn into snakes that wrapped around them, immobilizing them.

The possessed Riley chuckled in delight before making dozen of books fly off their shelves as some of them began spilling random things out of their pages. Celestia suddenly felt like something from her was missing to see that her horn, wings and her crown right on Riley.

"Look mommy, I'm a princess too!" he said in a girlish tone before laughing hysterically at his own joke.

Disc...I mean Riley, stop it." Celestia quickly corrected herself as Riley stopped descending down once he came face to face with Celestia.

"Riley? Now that's an interesting name. But it seems your a tad bit late because you see, this 'Riley' will begin to realize that these blackouts aren't ordinary. And soon he'll start connecting the dots. Then what'll you do? How will you protect everypony from us?" Discord Riley explained with smile on his face.

Celestia's heart raced with fear. She had to do something before he's averted back.

"How does it feel to be checkm-" Possessed Riley began before he began to cough violently as blood spilled out of his mouth. Without warning, he dropped the rest of the way to the floor before gripping his skull and began spazzing out uncontrollably. "W-What's hap-happening?!"

_Just as I thought. Every time any of them manifest through Riley and use their magic, they risk damaging the body. The longer they use magic, the more the body gets damaged,_ Celestia noted while watching Riley spaz out before his eyes switched back to normal as his eyes rolled back into his skull and into unconsciousness.

Everything seemed to revert back to normal like nothing has ever happened as the guards stood idly by while the sun princess looked around to see what triggered this possession before seeing the book she left out on a very specific page. Using her magic, she closed the book and sent it to its proper place before turning her attention to the unconscious Riley.

Celestia knew that soon as he awakes, it would only be a matter of time before he figures out he has a special connection with most infamous villains in history. She couldn't allow that to happen... Not yet.

Celestia lowered her head until the tip of her horn touched Riley's forehead before she concentrated her magic. She wasn't sure how hard it'll be to actually get into his mind with immense Dark Magic running through him. The princess suddenly found herself within his memories with little to no resistance at all.

Wasting no time, Celestia skimmed through his memories until she found the ones she was looking for; the book and the window paintings. Celestia concentrated her magic, creating a magical barrier around the memories, creating a Memory Lock Spell to prevent Riley from remembering them for now.

_There, that should do it,_ the princess thought before finding herself back in the library.

"Guards! I need you to cover up the window paintings. You mustn't let Riley see them again." Celestia demanded as the guards saluted and rushed off to do their duty.

A sudden cough caught the princess' attention to see Riley waking up. He slowly pulled himself up and rubbed his eyes like he just woke up from a nap before he gripped his head in pain.

"What happened?"

"You blacked out again, do you remember what happened?" Celestia asked, silently praying that the spell worked. Riley scratched his head in wonder as he tried to piece together what happened.

"I remember listening explain Equestria's history and then you had to leave. That's all I remember." Riley recalled as a wave of relief washed through Celestia while thanking the spell for working.

"Riley, I want you to listen carefully to what I gotta say next, I've decided to send you to Ponyville to live with my former student, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"What, why? Why can't I stay in the castle?" Riley inquired a little hastily.

"I don't want you to be cooped up in the castle and shielded away from society. I think its better for you to experience our lifestyle as you'll have your own social life, establish friendships, and experience a whole lot more than being in this castle. And who knows, you'll probably find the answers you're looking for."

Riley thought about it for a moment. He really didn't want to leave the castle just yet to be brought into a society that he's still learning about let alone being set apart from everypony else because of what he is.

But then again, maybe the answers he's been looking for lie some place out and if he's lucky, there in this town. It didn't take long for Riley to decide.

"Alright, I'll go. If my answers to who I am lie elsewhere than here, I guess I'll live with this 'Twilight' character." Riley replied as Celestia nodded and motioned him to follow her.

While in the hallways, Riley noticed what little light that shunned through the curtains which was odd to him considering that they were opened when coming to the library. So the question now is, why are they closed now?

Before curiosity can get the better of Riley, they entered the throne room to see princess Luna standing near the throne, looking a little sleepy from lack of sleep also.

"Good morrow to you both." Luna greeted honorably before she nodded her head to her sister who nodded back in return. "I shall tend to see a chariot for your departure."

With that said, Luna walked out the doors, leaving Celestia and Riley alone. Riley kept his eyes on the floor the whole time, thinking about if this was the right choice to go.

"You look uncertain about your answer." Celestia pointed out, making Riley jump a little.

"N-No, that's not it at all..." Riley began to say before letting out a sigh. "Yeah, your right. But the reason I was hoping on staying was because your the first and maybe the only pony who treated me like one of your own kind. You and Luna both. I guess I was just hoping we'd be friends."

Celestia stared surprisingly at Riley for a moment before smiling. "We are friends, no doubt. But as your friend, I want you to experience a life of your own than feel like a prisoner of the castle."

It was Riley's turn to look at her in surprise that she knew how he felt within here. Or was it just a coincidence?

Luna reemerged back into the throne room with several Royal Pegasus Guards before walking up to Riley and throwing her hooves around him in a hug, stunning the human.

"I bid you a safe journey." Luna said as Riley struggled to whether hug her or not before wrapping his arms around her.

"Thanks." Riley said before they broke their hug and he turned to Celestia who just nodded politely to him.

Riley let out one more sigh before he followed the group of guards. Once everypony has left the room, the princesses' turned to each other.

"Are you sure he'll be okay? What he begins to...act up again?" Luna asked with much worry in her tone.

"I'm absolutely certain he will be fine. I've already got somebody watching over him."

"Who?"

Celestia smiled at her sister who only gave her a unsettling look that she knew who she was talking about.

* * *

The carriage shook violently against the strong winds but it didn't seem to faze Riley as he stared sadly out the window. Even though his heart was set on moving to this town, he felt like he missed something. Something he thought he should have looked into but he wasn't sure what it was and now he won't have the chance.

Its been more than thirty minutes into their flight as Riley was beginning to feel like they weren't getting anywhere as they struggled to push further. Riley let his mind wander for a while for the remaining time of the trip.

By the time they eventually reached their destination, the sun hung high in the sky. The carriage came to a halt next to a large tree decorated to look like a house. Riley looked at the sign posted outside the tree house which read 'Golden Oak Library'.

Riley watched as two guards walked up to the tree before knocking on the door. A few moments later, a purple pony opened the door and looked quite confused of why there was Royal Guards at her door.

Riley examined the purple pony to see a horn on top of her head and wings spread out as he finally noticed she too was an Alicorn. He continued to watch Twilight and guards discuss something before one of the guards signaled him to come.

Riley's heart began to pound within his chest, fearing that Twilight would freak out because of his appearance. He reached slowly for the door before sweat began to drip down his forehead but he proceeded anyway by opening the door and stepping out.

The purple pony's eyes widen with shock as the Royal Guards quickly departed back to Canterlot. The human and Twilight stare down one another before she cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry to ask of this but how did you get to Equestria?"

Technically I d-"

How'd you meet the princesses?"

"Interesting st-"

"Why did Celestia bring you to me?"

"Because she wan-"

"Strange, why do you look different from all the rest?"

"What kind of ques-"

Twilight kept shooting questions left and right, overwhelming Riley until he couldn't take it any longer.

"Twilight, please!" Riley blurted out, making Twilight stop her interrogation session as she stared stunningly at him. But before she could open her mouth to ask another question, Riley butted in.

"Your princess told me about you, well, just your name. Now, can we put aside the questions until AFTER we properly introduced each other?" Riley slightly pleaded as Twilight suddenly became red with embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry. Welcome to Ponyville...er..." Twilight started to greet before suddenly remembering that she hasn't learned his the human's name. Riley mentally chuckled to himself before introducing himself.

"It's Riley and thanks."

Twilight stuck out her hoof towards Riley like she was expecting him so shake it. Riley was a little skeptical about this since they just met and he half expected her to want to make physical contact with him, but soon he gave in and grabbed her hoof.

The moment Riley's hand touched Twilight's hoof, thousands of images began flooding into his mind. Too many images kept flashing by, he could comprehend them all. Riley's knees buckled as he fell to the dirt, gripping his head in agony.

"Hey, are you all right?" Twilight asked in distress before rushing to his side.

"Don't touch me!" Riley sneered out as Twilight backed away from him and stared in a bit of sorrow, not really certain why he snapped at her.

As soon as the images subsided, Riley struggled to his feet before staring at Twilight. He wasn't a hundred percent positive that these images he witnessed weren't what they were but more like memories he doesn't remember having.

_Whatever she did, intentionally or not, she's knows something and she is hiding it_, Riley thought angrily before hiding his true feelings underneath.

"Sorry, got a terrible migraine there for a moment. I'm fine now." Riley lied as he gave a fake smile to her to assure he that he was fine.

Twilight wasn't sure if Riley was telling the truth or not but had no choice but to believe him.

"Okay...well, how about we go and grab something to eat, you must be hungry from your long journey." Twilight said as Riley's stomach growled at the mention of food before Twilight escorted him to the café.

While they walked through town, Riley couldn't help but notice all the residents stop and stare at him. Some in wonder or disgust, some in confusion and some in fear, which made him uncomfortable of even being here.

They both arrived at the café as Riley caught a whiff of the sweet aroma hanging around that made his mouth water. They sat at the furthest table before a pony approached them wearing a formal outfit.

"Ahem, welcome to the Harmony Brews Café, my name is Savoir Fare and I'll be your waiter today. Now what would you two..." Savoir began to say before his voice trailed off after catching sight of Riley.

"Well...um, if you please...excuse...me..." Savoir shakily stuttered out as sweat dripped down his forehead and he stumbled to get his hooves to work before quickly trotting into the café.

Riley buried his face into his hands and almost felt like he really was a monster.

"This is going to be pointless..."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is how am I suppose to have a social life here if everypony is just afraid or looks at me in disgust?" Riley asked as Twilight rubbed chin with her hoof like she was thinking before something came to her.

"Then you'll just have to win them over." Twilight suggested, making Riley uncover his face and stare at her in confusion.

"So how in Equestria, or however you say it, do I do that?" Riley inquired but before Twilight could answer, something slammed into Riley that sent him sailing through the air for a second before crashing into the ground.

Riley's vision swirled as his head pounded heavily due to slamming into the ground. As soon as his vision returned back to normal, he found a cyan Pegasus with q rainbow mane sitting on him and giving him an antagonized look.

"What are you? What do you want?" The Pegasus asked hastily.

"What?! Get off of me!" Riley yelled out while he struggled to get free but despite the Pegasus's size, she kept him pinned to the ground.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight scolded before using her magic to lift Rainbow off of Riley and levitate her to Twilight's side.

"Twilight?! Why the hay are you helping this thing?" Rainbow protested as Riley balled his hands in a fist and growled in annoyance for that insult.

"That 'thing' is a human and his name is Riley." Twilight explained as Dash looked between her friend and the human, not sure whether to believe.

Riley could see a sense of suspiciousness on Rainbow's face which made him take note to watch himself around her before Twilight released her magical grip on her friend.

"Rainbow, can you do me a favor. Can you gather the rest of our friends, I want to introduce them to Riley." Twilight pleaded as Rainbow gave one more look to Riley before taking off at a fast rate.

"Sorry, you'll have to excuse Rainbow. She can be a little rough to newcomers, especially ones that are not Equestrian. But I assure you, she will come around soon." Twilight tried to cheer up Riley but he wasn't too sure.

Twilight wanted to say something else to try to cheer him up but instead got up from the table and walked right into the café, leaving Riley alone.

_Maybe it was a bad idea to come here. Nopony likes me and treats me like some kind of monster. I don't know what to do..._ Riley thought before Twilight suddenly retuned with two steaming plates of food with her magic.

They both began to eat but Riley didn't eat as much as he wanted to due to what happened earlier and he was having a bit of trouble using the utensils instead of his hands. Twilight noticed Riley's behavior but before she could ask him what's wrong, she saw her friends coming.

"Riley, I would like to introduce my friends." Twilight said before fly over to them as Riley turned around to face them to see them all, except Rainbow Dash, staring at him with a hint of fear in their eyes under their excitement.

A wave of familiarity washed over Riley as he tried to figure out why they looked familiar to him before Twilight spoke up.

"First we have Fluttershy." Twilight pointed to a yellow Pegasus.

"Oh...nice to meet you..." Fluttershy whispered only loud enough for Riley to barely hear her before she his most of her face behind her mane mostly in fear.

"This is Rarity."

"Nice to meet you dearie, your garments look unique." the white unicorn commented in a somewhat fancy tone.

"And this is Applejack."

Applejack just tipped her cowboy hat in greeting before giving a half smile.

"Pinkie Pie."

The pink party pony blew a whistle shaped like a mustache to almost look like she actually wore a mustache that spewed confetti as she sprayed silly string of all sorts of colors right on Riley, making him crack a smile and chuckle in amusement. Something he hasn't done at all till today.

"And you've already met Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow continued to give him her suspicious gaze but gave him a hardy 'hello', which was enough for Riley. The girls then crowded themselves around the table as they all asked him questions that he had no answers to but he responded as truthfully as possible only to hear Rainbow mutter something about being a liar.

After Riley was done eating they decided to show him around in which they only showed him the Hospital, Train Station, Ponyville Theatre, the marketplace, Sugar Cube Corner, Carousel Boutique, and the Quills and Sofas shop before ending up back at the library where they hosted Riley's 'Welcome to Ponyville' party.

Riley watched the girls dance and have fun when he should too but there was a lot of things on his mind then fun. He surveyed the room to see balloons hanging on the ceiling as streamers and confetti littered the floor. Almost every inch of the library was decorated in party décor.

The rest of the party must have went quickly for him because the next thing he knew, he was in a spare bed that was barely big enough for him as he tried to get some shut eye. Riley tossed and turned to get comfortable but no matter what, he couldn't do it.

Riley looked up at the wall clock which read two o' clock in the morning before Riley decided to get up and tipped toed to Twilight's room. Once there, he saw Twilight sound asleep in her bed.

_What's the real reason Celestia brought me here other than have a social life. What secret are they all hiding from?_ Riley thought as his hands balled into a fist.

"Whatever you and the princesses' are hiding from me, I'll exploit them soon." Riley half whispered before he walked silently back to his room.

* * *

Riley's body seemed to be floating in a sea of darkness as it looked like he was asleep. Everything was quiet for a while before three figures which were Sombra, Nightmare Moon and Discord appeared floating over Riley's body, looking down upon him.

"This can't be what we're working with. It looks like an abomination ten times over." Sombra growled in annoyance.

"I don't know Sombra, he looks kinda cute." Nightmare admitted before her and Sombra got into a heated argument over how Riley looks.

"Companions, companions, it doesn't matter what he looks like, it should be that we're all here as tyrants." Discord intervened as Nightmare and Sombra looked at each other before using their magic together, creating a magical zipped and a straight jacket, immobilizing Discord entirely.

"Its strange though, I've seen you two manifest through the boy and noticed that you weren't using your full magic. And I can't help but get the feeling that the boy's will is keeping us at bay." Nightmare wondered before Discord was finally able to break his little prison.

"Ahhh, let whatever this thing have his fun, his determination will soon crumble and we can do whatever we want when it does. But in the meantime, chess anypony?" Discord asked before a chess board with pieces appeared between them all.

Sombra's horn glowed but instead of blowing up Discord's chess game like he would normally do, he moved one of his pawns two spaces forward, pleasing Discord greatly.

"Hello? Where am I?" Riley's voice called out, catching attention of the three. Riley's eyes were still closed but there was physical evidence that he was aware of the situation. "Please who's there?"

The three villains stared at each other in confusion, not really sure what to do at this moment till they smiled devilishly before saying four words in unison.

"We are your Demons."


End file.
